Methods of fabricating three-dimensional (“3D”) polymeric parts may include light area printing (“LAP”), selective laser sintering (“SLS”), inkjet binder sintering, fused deposition modeling (“FDM”), stereolithography (“SLA”), and digital light projection (“DLP”) sintering. In general, for desirable printed object accuracy the heated area is determined by the coalescent agent disposed over a pulverulent layer of particles. In many instances of a layer-by-layer process, during the formation of the topmost layer, the coalescent agent within the already printed (and fused) layer(s) underneath may absorb energy again, thereby causing heating in both the topmost layer and the previously fused layer(s) underneath, as shown in FIG. 1. This may cause non-uniform temperature distribution, leading to excessive powder fusing in the regions outside the printed object contour, and thermal stresses, causing object deformation. This problem may be exacerbated when previously printed area protrudes outside of object section currently being formed/fused, as shown in FIG. 2. In this case, undesirable heating may adversely enlarge the fusing area in the top layer, and the fusing area become object shape dependent and difficult to compensate for. In addition, unintentional absorption of the radiant energy by underlying layers may cause non-uniform temperature distribution over the base pulverulent layer(s).